People, Process, and Technology for New Products

Entrepreneurs love building products. An idea comes to mind to solve a big problem and it’s off to the races to get it developed and in the hands of potential customers. Only, the hard reality sets in once prospects see it. There are actually three challenges that must be overcome: people, process, and technology.

People – As much as we like to think companies are rational actors doing their best to maximize profits, the reality is that humans make the decisions and aren’t nearly as rational as we like to believe. With people, there’s a tremendous amount of subjectivity and it’s difficult to get them to act.

Process – Even if the people are bought in, there’s almost always a process change that’s required for one or more employees in the company once they’ve bought the product. People are creatures of habit and changing the way they do things is hard. Many entrepreneurs underestimate the importance of change management and getting a new process implemented.

Technology – Building a simple, standalone application is easier than it’s ever been. Technology challenges really start to emerge when having to integrate with a number of disparate systems, supporting a variety of mobile devices (especially Android), and providing a great experience for all end-user skill levels. The technology is never done.

The next time an entrepreneur makes it sound like a new venture is going to be easy, ask the hard questions, especially around people, process, and technology.

What else? What are some more thoughts on people, process, and technology for new products?